Monday, 29 April 2013

8th – 9th April 2013 Watershed, Bristol

The IOCT made a strong showing at the combined Computer Arts Society/Computing in Art and Design Education symposium at the Watershed in Bristol in April with papers by Ernest Edmonds, Francesca Franco, Sean Clark and also Anthony Rowe of Squidsoup-who collaborated with IOCT on their Ocean of Light piece. There were exhibitions by Professor Martin Rieser showing the work for the Phoenix Digital Arts Commission Exodus and also Jackie Calderwood's work with Alzheimers' patients Living Voices. Other speakers included veteran computer artist and educator Brian Reffin Smith Pervasive Media artists Duncan Speakman and Tine Bech and physicist David Glowacki using quantum field calculations to enhance interactive dance displays. Frieder Nake was unable to attend but supplied a video.

Marking the 18th anniversary of the first Computers in Art andDesign Education conference , where those born in 1995 have just become students. Many who then sensed the opportunities and need to make computers an integral part of Art andDesign Education might feel that this is now a given. The symposium interrogated the question whether the integration of computers in Art and Design Education has only been the prelude to a greater set of challenges?It asked how the landscape might change when we begin to teach pupils who’ve been taught how to code in schools? As computing moves off the desktop towards the ubiquitous and the physical and into what should be the natural domain of the arts, is the sector prepared? Can it cope with the demands of electronics alongside coding? Can it innovate and be creative if it doesn’t? With creative technology now being one of the highest recruiting areas within Computing Departments are new approaches demanded?